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Clinical examination performance in rural longitudinal medical programmes.
Anthony Khoo1,2,3, Peter Michelmore1, Sheela Joseph1,4
1College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, Australia.
Medical students in rural training programs performed similarly overall in Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs) compared to urban counterparts. However, rural students demonstrated superior communication skills in these standardized assessments.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Rural Health Workforce Development
Background:
- Longitudinal rural medical programs aim to increase the rural medical workforce.
- Limited evidence exists on Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) performance variations among medical students in different geographic training locations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate potential variations in OSCE performance among medical students across different training sites within the Flinders University Doctor of Medicine Programme.
- To compare overall, discipline-level, and domain-level OSCE performance between metropolitan and rural training locations.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of OSCE data from third-year graduate entry medical students in 2024.
- Quantitative comparison of performance metrics between students from Metropolitan South Australia, Rural South Australia, and the Flinders Northern Territory (NT) Medical Programme.
Main Results:
- Overall OSCE performance did not significantly differ between metropolitan and rural training locations.
- Students from rural training locations exhibited significantly better communication skills (84% vs. 67%, p < 0.001) compared to metropolitan students.
- Significant variations in performance were observed across different disciplines (Medicine, Acute Care, Primary Care) between training locations (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
- Extended rural training does not negatively impact overall OSCE performance compared to metropolitan training.
- Rural medical students show enhanced communication skills in OSCEs, suggesting specific benefits of rural immersion.
- Further research is needed to understand how diverse training exposures influence OSCE outcomes and inform curriculum development.
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